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Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Sometimes working on a particular project for a member of the family is more difficult than working on a commission for a stranger. One is never entirely sure that they are being truthful about the work or just being polite.

I finished this painting yesterday as a gift for my son and his wife. They just completed extensive remodeling at their home and I felt that offering them a new painting would be in order. After getting an idea of what they wanted, I began to work on Critical Mass, a three-panel painting measuring 48"x72". My daughter-in-law wanted something bold and vibrant in hot tropical colors to compliment their Florida home. The colors in the home are warm neutral tones and she wanted something that would be a focal point in the room.

Well, I definitely feel I accomplished that with this painting.

To get in the mood to paint something that would reflect the movement and energy that was needed for this painting, I decided to listen to music that would put me in the right frame of mind. Thank goodness for Oscar Lopez and his Seduction. As soon as the strains of his guitar started, I literally began to dance in rhythm to the music. My hand flew across the canvas as I drew in the composition. Before long, I had the "bones" of the painting pretty much established and was ready to start painting. I added textural elements as well as metallic silverleaf accents - one of the prerequisites of the painting.

I'm pretty happy with the result and after emailing some images to my son and his wife, I know that they are too.

I'll have to check out what other CDs Oscar has out. If you've never heard him, I hope you'll listen to some clips from Seduction. You'll be dancing too!

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Finally, today I was able to spend the entire day in the studio without having to run errands, make phone calls or any of the other trivia that seems to fill my days.

I started this painting a couple of days ago but today I spent the time refining the design and building up the subtle layers of glazed color. It's a constant process of adjustment. Just when one area looks finished, I have to go back and "balance" it out with another areas of the painting. After several hours of this, I finally felt that I could pronounce it "finished".

Every artist goes through the same struggles nursing their works along, until finally, the image that once only resided in the brain has been transferred to the canvas, clay or what ever medium of choice. I like to always leave my options open because sometimes I don't have a preconceived idea of what the finished painting will look like. Those moments of serendipity when everything comes together are the times when I feel that the struggle was definitely worth the trouble.

I hope you'll visit my website to see this painting and the many others I have available.